1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a protective circuit for a field effect transistor amplifier, and more particularly is directed to a protective circuit for preventing damage to the amplifying field effect transistor or transistors by an abrupt increase in the applied input signal to an excessive value.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many protective circuits have been proposed for use with transistor amplifiers employing bipolar transistors. However, few protective circuits are concerned with field effect transistor amplifiers in which a field effect transistor is used as a power amplifier, because the usual field effect transistor with pentode characteristics is not suited for operation as a power amplifier.
Recently, field effect transistors with triode characteristics have been developed which are effective for use in a power amplifier because of the relatively higher current and breakdown voltage ratings thereof. Therefore, it has become necessary to provide a new protective circuit for amplifiers employing one or more triode characteristic field effect transistors for amplifying purposes.
In general, a field effect transistor has different characteristics than a bipolar transistor, particularly in that a maximum drain current flows in response to an input signal in the absence of any DC biasing voltage applied between the gate and source electrodes of the field effect transistor. By reason of the foregoing, a protective circuit provided for a bipolar transistor cannot be used for a field effect transistor amplifier, particularly when the field effect transistors of the latter have triode characteristics.